Re: Ketamine medical use is abandoned?

May I disagree with your question?
Ketamine is a chemical compound close, according to its chemical structure, 
to lysergic acid or "LSD". Ketamine is therefore an anesthetic agent, while 
LSD is a street drug....
Putting aside this semantic question, you are partially right in stating 
that ketamine was nearly abandoned during the past years. Several reasons 
led to this near-abandonment. Ketamine has dysphoric effects, i.e. it 
creates delirium at emergence of anesthesia (I remember my residency years, 
we had close to hand some cardboard with "QUIET PLEASE, I'M AWAKENING FROM 
KETAMINE ANESTHESIA" we fixed on our patients' bed when appropriate). Bad 
dreams occured frequently, especially among burned patients, leading to 
sometimes horrific nightmares. Ketamine increases heart rate and blood 
pressure, and can be hazardous for patients with angina pectoris, putting 
them at risk for myocardial infarction during operation or recovery. 
Ketamine increases the pressure in the brain in some circumstances, and can 
worsen the outcome of patients suffering from head injuries who needed an 
operation.

So many reasons for abandoning ketamine, but....

Ketamine was recently revisited, with large cohort studies, which means that 
its effects were studied on a more comprehensive basis than earlier 
studies. Several good indications were highlighted. Ketamine is a safe and 
convenient drug for anesthesia among children under age of 3 years in an 
emergency setting, provided that you intubate them (you pass a tube in 
their trachea after putting them asleep, and connect them to a machine, a 
respirator - you can refer to E.R. on your favorite TV channel).

Today, ketamine has well-defined indications, especially for emergency 
anesthesia for children under 3 years. It works fine, with little side 
effects. I use it in my practice, with good results.